Pro-Trump, But Not Pro-America: Europe’s Populists Are Divided
The president’s supporters shouldn’t get too desperate for allies.
The Hungarian prime minister’s attitude toward Russia tells you something. His rhetoric about Israel tells you much more.
Photographer: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The efforts of Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Berlin, and Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon to strengthen the European far right have a certain logic to them: A changed America is looking for different allies. This search, however, will have to be highly selective: Some of the continent’s populists and nationalists aren’t just anti-liberal and anti-immigrant, but also fundamentally anti-American.
There are two issues on which the Trumpists need to sound out their European friends (and they won’t necessarily get straight answers): attitudes toward Israel and views of the U.S.’s rightful place in the world.